Orchestra Concert

Last night I played with the Kanata Symphony, my orchestra for the past three years. For those who do not know, I play the cello. I have been playing for almost 15 years (!!!!) and have previously played with the Mississauga Youth Orchestra and Symphony Hamilton. We are a pretty low-key orchestra. We don’t have auditions, anyone is welcome, and the emphasis is learning to play pieces, not earn oodles of money (we don’t get paid, we actually pay in). For the past few years I have really only been playing the Fall concert. My Master’s program, Robotics being on Wednesdays when we rehearse, and having Max = I can’t really play in the Spring. I may play the Christmas concert, but we will see! I definitely am not playing the Spring concert, but want to play the last concert in May.

So our concert last night was on a Halloween Theme. We played the following:

– In the Hall of the Mountain King – From Peer Gynt, Grieg

– Danse Macabre – Saint-Saen

– Fossils – From Carnival of the Animals, Saint-Saen

– Catacombæ and Baba Yaga (the actual title is in Russian I think…) from Pictures at an Exhibition, Mussorgsky

– Night on Bald Mountain, Mussorgsky

If you browse the internets or your classical music selection you will no doubt recognize most of the pieces. I have played every one at least once (Night on Bald Mtn, I’ve played in every orchestra). Each pieces has a different story:

In the Hall of the Mountain King: Peer Gynt is trying to escape the Mountain King

Danse Macabre – Dance of Death

Fossils – a musical joke by Saint-Saens, there are other pieces incorporated in the piece

Baba Yaga – Based on a Slavic children’s story. It is a witch who runs around eating children and lives in a house with chicken legs….or something creepy like that

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With our theme, some of us decided to dress up! I wore a black and orange wig for my outfit!